Oceans & Clouds

Space Station perspectives of oceans and clouds (credit: Thomas Pasquet, ESA Mission Alpha)

Traveling 240 miles (400kms) above the Earth's surface, astronaut Thomas Pasquet viewed cloud banks scattered above the ocean. From his vantage point on the International Space Station (ISS), the researcher from the European Space Agency made this reflection on the views below:

Our planet is mostly water with a sprinklings of clouds. As land-lubbers and a few people on ships or in spacecraft, we tend to forget how much of Earth is not earth!

Pasquet compiled selections of his photography into a space video to showcase the unique perspective his remote location allowed him. The film was made during his second mission to the orbiting space platform and designated, Mission Alpha. His camera was programmed to capture images at intervals of two per second and then he edited them into a photographic time-lapse. Stunning views can be seen from remote locations. WHB

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